We have a river. Let’s use it again
Re “Running dry,” May 20
If you go to the Los Angeles Public Library and look up the photo collection on the L.A. River, you will find many photographs of the 52 miles of zanjas, the channels that once crisscrossed Los Angeles in the 1850s to irrigate the vineyards, orange groves and, yes, lawns.
The sluice gates were moderated by paid zanjeros who could open them in times of f lood and close them in times of drought. In Chinatown, a giant waterwheel transported L.A. River water up to the Zanja Madre and into the Pueblo de Los Angeles.
Some might say, “Oh, how quaint,” but we could do well by looking at these practical solutions to help us live within our means. We need the L.A. River’s water,
and we must now find a way to stem the rush of fresh winter rainwater into the Pacific Ocean.
Or, we could stop building. With people leaving Los Angeles, do we really need to build the additional 250,000 dwellings required by the state? Haven’t we overwhelmed our environment enough?
Sarah Starr
Los Angeles
The Times describes how a 1922 pact among seven Western states overallocated the water now f lowing in the Colorado River. A few possible remedies are mentioned, but not the one that is the most sensible and long-lasting.
Lake Powell, a Colorado River reservoir on the Arizona-Utah border, should be entirely drained and its water stored downriver in Lake Mead. This would reduce water loss due to both evaporation and seepage.
The reborn Glen Canyon (which currently sits underneath Lake Powell) could then be made into a new national park that would enjoy far more visitation than the currently diminished Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Ben Zuckerman
Los Angeles